Tuesday, February 26, 2008

If I lived anywhere near civilization, THIS would be a problem. Thankfully I'm enjoying my fresh cup of French Roast coffee on my own this morning.

Will Starbucks really be better after their training today? Absolutely! There's nothing like getting everyone on the same page from the top down. Customers want a consistent product no matter what location they visit. Leaders know that vision "leaks" and re-communicating that vision and detailing the expectations is huge for any organization.

Monday, February 25, 2008

It seems I have been lax in the posts again, but I have found a new interest in "Twitter." If you're not sure what Twitter is, check it out here. It's very addicting. Simple, fun and effective. It's basically a micro-blog (an online diary if you will) of what you are doing at any particular moment. You can follow others and they can follow you.

It's rumored that this guy and this guy are enjoying Twittering much more than blogging!

Friday, February 15, 2008

The Relevant Church in Tampa's Ybor City has issued a 30-Day sex challenge. Single men and women can't have sex for 30 days, and married couples are urged to have it every day.

"If you look at the studies, studies say in 30 days you can develop a habit," said Pastor Paul Wirth. It definitely caught the church wives by surprise. "Our married people are far more fearful than our single people," said Wirth.

You can check out the entire article here and the church website here.

Robert Scoble is making a big deal out of the forthcoming announcement by Microsoft on February 27th. Here's what he has to say:

It’s not often that I see software that really changes my world. It’s even rarer that I see software that I know will change the world my sons live in. I can count those times pretty easily...While watching the demo I realized the way I look at the world was about to change.

Those are some pretty big words! Many have speculated that this is an open-source software that picks up where the 1993 World Telescope Project left off.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

It's that time of year again - Valentine's Day. Some would argue that big business (such as Hallmark, floral companies and the like) has created an all-consuming culture around this day. What's your stance? My wife, Melissa, and I try to find creative ways to celebrate this holiday. From notes to emails to conversation, we enjoy finding creative ways to share our love for one another. But it doesn't stop there. We like to celebrate Valentine's Day every day. Why wait for one day out of the year to remind your loved one how special they are?

I thought I would share a bit of history behind Valentine's Day. Relevant Magazine has another wonderful insight in their latest newsletter. Check this out:

Some believe that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men so that his crop of potential soldiers would multiply; all current engagements were also nullified. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied the emperor and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. Swooning yet?

When Valentine's actions were discovered, he was arrested and imprisoned by the emperor. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the jailer’s blind daughter, whose vision he restored by a saintly miracle. The emperor found out about the healing and ordered that Valentine be beheaded. On the eve of his execution, he wrote a farewell note to the jailer’s daughter, dripping with love and words of affection, signing it “from your Valentine.”

Nowadays, the commercialization of the holiday may have distorted our understanding of the passion of this event by incorporating cards with SpongeBob SquarePants on them signed, “from your Valentine.” However, the original story is as achingly romantic as they come. It is further believed that the “from your Valentine” tradition carried on after the saint’s execution through an annual Roman festival where young men gave handwritten letters of affection to the young women they wished to court. The festival was held on February 14, and determined the romantic fate for young people in the coming year. Fortunately, present-day Valentine cards that kids pass out during class do not determine their romantic destinies, so the switch to candy was probably a smart move in this case—unless arranged marriage is what you have in mind for your children one day.